Buffalo
Bills QB Tyrod Taylor is sacked for a six yard loss by Oakland Raiders
Bruce Irwin (51) in the first quarter at the Oakland Coliseum in
Oakland, California on December 4, 2016. The Raiders defeated the Bills
38-24. Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- With the clock potentially running out on Tyrod Taylor's
career as Buffalo's starting quarterback, Taylor turned in the finest
performance of his nearly two-year stint with the Bills in Saturday's
34-31 overtime loss to Miami.

Taylor threw for 329 yards and three
touchdowns, rushed for 60 yards, and he rallied the Bills from 14 points
down late in the third quarter into a 31-28 lead with 1:20 left in
regulation.

Taylor has endured heavy criticism most of
the season for his inability to make anything happen in the passing
game. Entering the Miami matchup, the Bills ranked 31st in the NFL in
passing, a position they've occupied most of the second half of the
season. Taylor's difficulties with seeing the entire field, his penchant
for leaving clean pockets and his nagging habit of waiting too long to
deliver were all factors in the criticism.

Against Miami, there was a little bit of all
that but not nearly as much as usual, and Taylor made several big throws
in what is, to date, his signature game with Buffalo. He connected with
Sammy Watkins with a perfect deep ball for a 38-yard touchdown, and he
hit tight end Charles Clay over the middle on fourth-and-goal from the 7
for the touchdown that gave the Bills the lead late in the fourth
quarter.

Not bad for a guy who got into a car accident
on his way to the game in the morning, a mishap that he later said was
not his fault and did not injure him in any way.

"Statistically, yes, it was a good day," Taylor said. "But like I said from Day 1, you're judged by wins as a quarterback."

Based on that metric, Taylor is now 15-14 as a
starter for the Bills. Average at best, to be sure, and the more
telling analysis is that Taylor does not have one truly quality victory
on his resume. The only team he beat in 2015 that went to the playoffs
was Houston. This year, the only playoff team Taylor beat is New
England, but that came when Tom Brady was out and Jacoby Brissett was New England's quarterback.

Taking that victory over the Patriots out of
the mix, the combined record of the other six teams Taylor beat this
year is 21-67-2. Three of the wins came against the three worst teams in
the NFL -- Cleveland, Jacksonville, and San Francisco -- and all those
games were played at home.

Coupling his less than illustrious resume
with his undeniable limitations as a passer, the prudent move for the
Bills is to cut ties before 2017. One breakout game against an average
Miami defense is not enough to warrant the Bills picking up the option
on Taylor's contract which would guarantee him $27.5 million in salary
and bonus compensation in 2017.

"I'm just going to continue to keep playing
with the same passion, approach each game with the same attitude as far
as getting better," Taylor said when he was asked about the possibility
of Sunday's season finale against the New York Jets
being his last game for the Bills. "Those talks, those conversations
are really out of my hands. All I can do is go out there and play
football, and that's what I'm going to continue to keep doing."

REPORT CARD VS. DOLPHINS

PASSING OFFENSE: A -- For the first time in
his NFL career, Tyrod Taylor surpassed 300 yards passing, finishing at
329 on 26 of 39 with three touchdowns. Taylor twice rallied the Bills
from 14 points down and put Buffalo ahead with 1:20 left in regulation
on his second TD pass to Charles Clay. Sammy Watkins enjoyed his first
100-yard receiving game with 154 and caught a 38-yard TD, while Clay led
the Bills with eight receptions totaling 85 yards.

RUSHING OFFENSE: A-plus -- The No. 1 rushing team in the league had another huge day as LeSean McCoy
gained 128 yards, Mike Gillislee 91 and Tyrod Taylor 60. The Bills
averaged 5.6 yards per carry behind an offensive line that was minus
starting C Eric Wood and LT Cordy Glenn. Fourteen of the Bills' 30 first
downs were achieved via the rush as Buffalo finished with 272 yards,
the fourth time it has gone past 200 yards this season.

PASS DEFENSE: C-minus -- Poor tackling by the
defensive backs led to an enormous amount of yards after catch for the
Miami receivers, a big reason why Matt Moore
finished with 233 yards passing. He really wasn't much of a factor and
he threw a brutal end zone interception to CB Corey White at the end of
the first half. The Bills did an excellent job on Jarvis Landry, who had
only three catches for 29 yards. But a 56-yard DeVante Parker TD was
the direct result of a missed open-field tackle by CB Nickell
Robey-Coleman, and a 44-yard pass to Damien Williams that set up a TD
came about thanks to CB Stephon Gilmore's missed tackle. One big problem
was the pass rush, which was non-existent and did not sack or harass
Moore.

RUSH DEFENSE: F -- Another abomination for
the Bills, who allowed Jay Ajayi to rush for 206 yards, the second time
he has topped 200 this year against the Bills. That made Ajayi just the
third player in NFL history (O.J. Simpson, Jamal Lewis)
to top 200 yards against the same team twice in one season. Miami
gained 261 yards on the ground, giving it 517 rushing yards in two games
against the Bills. The Bills were terrible in gap support, they missed
numerous tackles, and they got burned by Ajayi's cutback runs. Beyond
Ajayi, Kenyan Drake, who had 113 yards all season, broke a 45-yard TD
run when Jerry Hughes broke down on the outside and didn't hold the edge
when Drake reversed field.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D --Kicker Dan Carpenter
missed two field goals, including one in overtime that could have been
the game-winner. Carpenter has now missed six field goals and five extra
points this season. The kickoff coverage team got burned for 39- and
41-yard returns, and the punt team allowed a 16-yard return. Brandon
Tate had one decent play, a 23-yard punt return.

COACHING: D -- Rex Ryan
punting with four minutes left in overtime might have been the worst
decision of his coaching tenure in Buffalo. Having 10 men on the field
when Ajayi broke a 57-yard run was a complete fail by the coaches. The
defense did not learn anything regarding how to stop, or at least slow
Ajayi, and he rumbled for 200 yards for the second time this year. On
offense, it's hard to criticize anything, but the sequence that preceded
Carpenter's missed field goal in OT killed the Bills as Anthony Lynn
foolishly called for a reverse to Reggie Bush that lost eight yards and ruined the chances of scoring a game-ending touchdown.